Mother with infant jailed while trying to visit imprisoned husband

Ayfer Yavuz, whose husband was imprisoned as part of a government witch-hunt against the faith-based Gülen movement following a failed coup attempt last July, was put in jail along with her four-and-a-half-month-old infant when she went to Kars Prison to visit her husband on Jan. 23.

According to the TR724 news portal, Ayfer Yavuz traveled to Kars from Muğla by air along with her father-in-law Hüseyin Yavuz, four-year-old daughter and four-and-a-half-month-old infant to visit husband Emre Yavuz, who has never seen his newly born baby.

When Yavuz reached Kars Prison where her husband is being held, gendarmes detained her when a retina screen revealed that a detention warrant had been issued for her.

After appearing before the Iğdır Penal Court of Peace, Ayfer Yavuz was detained and jailed.

Following father-in-law Hüseyin Yavuz objecting to the prison administration because it refused to accept the infant into the prison, the baby was allowed to stay in prison with its mother, while the four-year-old daughter returned to Muğla with her grandfather.

Dozens of human tragedies in Turkey have been reported as part the government witch-hunt against the Gülen movement, which the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accuse of being behind the failed coup.

Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the AKP government along with Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement, inspired by US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. The movement denies the accusations.

Over 135,000 people, including thousands within the military, have been purged due to their real or alleged connection to the Gülen movement since the coup attempt, according to a statement by the labor minister on Jan. 10. As of Feb. 1, 89,775 people were being held without charge, with an additional 43,885 in pre-trial detention due to their alleged links to the movement.